


score

by ignitesthestars



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 03:52:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7206614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignitesthestars/pseuds/ignitesthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Okay, so, Darcy Lewis is no stranger to your average girl crush. This is the twenty first century, after all, and girls are girls. Which is to say - way more to recommend them, on your average day, than most dudes. If nothing else, they smell better.</p>
<p>Pepper Potts, though? Not a girl. And, Darcy is starting to realise with a sinking feeling that feels a lot like doom, not so much a crush, either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	score

Okay, so, Darcy Lewis is no stranger to your average girl crush. This is the twenty first century, after all, and girls are girls. Which is to say - way more to recommend them, on your average day, than most dudes. If nothing else, they smell better.

Pepper Potts, though? Not a girl. And, Darcy is starting to realise with a sinking feeling that feels a lot like doom, not so much a crush, either.

Darcy has this thing for tracing events. It’s the political scientist in her, maybe. Some shit in your life happens, and you grab the thread and trace it back through the tapestry of your life. She doesn’t need her internship if she’s better at planning her course credits. She doesn’t tase Thor without the internship. She doesn’t get brought into the SHIELD fold without Thor. She doesn’t get hired for the Avengers PR team once SHIELD turns out to be full of Nazis without being with SHIELD in the first place.

She doesn’t meet Pepper without being on that team.

It’s nearly ten at night when she shoulders her way into the older woman’s office, tablet clutched in one hand, armful of baked goods in the other. “Raided a proposal meeting at lunch. I’m like, ninety percent sure no one was fundraising for charity with the cupcakes.”

“I’ll write a check,” Pepper replies absently, not looking up from her own tablet. Her elbows are resting on the desk, fingers threaded through her hair, and - and it’s not an image that should make Darcy want.

“For me? You shouldn't have.” Really, it's not dissimilar to dealing with Jane in the middle of Sciencing, except Jane doesn't make Darcy’s heart skip a beat when she looks up and gives her a tired smile.

“Sorry, Darcy. I zoned out there for a moment.”

“Totally understandable. What with it being closer to midnight than it should be, and all. Have a muffin, I've got like, ten.”

“You aren't my secretary, you know.”

“You make your secretary fetch you baked goods? What is this, the fifties?”

Pepper laughs, soft as her smile and twice as exhausted. She takes a muffin, though, double chocolate. Darcy is pretty sure they both notice the way her gaze lingers too long as Pepper absently licks the frosting off her thumb.

She winces, waiting for the Potts Patented look of careful guardedness, the firm but easy dismissal.

Pepper clears her throat, straightening. She flips the cover over on her tablet, shaking her hair back over her shoulders. “You know what, I think I'm done here. But the cafe in the lobby is still open, if you wanted to get a drink with me.”

“Like a date?” Darcy blurts, and just barely manages to avoid hating herself for it because there's definitely a charge in the air. She might not be an actual scientist, but she knows chemistry when she feels it, all right?

Pepper’s smile now has all the exhaustion stripped from it, and it lights up the room. “Don't be silly. I wouldn't take you to a cafe for our first date.”

The smile is contagious. Darcy feels it creep onto her face, settle in her voice like it belongs there. “Oh, really? So where would you take me?”

Score for Lewis and innuendo, teaming up to win a faint blush across the bridge of Pepper's nose.

“If you're free tomorrow at seven, I'll show you.”

Score for Potts and firing right back. Darcy knows that Pepper has a call with the Australian office at seven tomorrow, because she's a little over-invested. She also knows that Pepper is a big CEO who can make her own decisions, and also that she herself is in no way unselfish enough to pass this up.

“Hey, barring the Avengers blowing something up, I'm free as a bird.”

They look at each other.

“I'll clear a back up time,” Pepper suggests, and Darcy laughs right up until the moment the older woman brushes a kiss over her cheek. Except it's really more the corner of her mouth, and Darcy, usually unable to shut up, momentarily forgets what words are.

“Coffee?” Pepper says brightly, and her body just barely rasps Darcy on her way to the door. One of the cupcakes dies for the cause as Darcy accidentally squeezes it a little too tight.

“You’re a bad woman,” she accuses, catching up.

Pepper doesn’t even need to say anything. That damn smile does it all for her.


End file.
